The Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, agreed to stick to their October plan to cut output by 2 million b/d from November through 2023. This decision came one day before the EU ban and a G7 price cap on Russian crude. The G7 and Australia last week agreed on a US $60/barrel price cap on seaborne Russian oil. Meanwhile Russia has stated they “will not accept” a price cap on its oil and will not supply oil to countries that implement the cap. The G7 price cap will ...
Chevron Granted License in Venezuela
Dec. 2, 2022
The US Treasury Department has taken the first step towards easing some of the sanctions imposed on Venezuela, enabling supermajor Chevron to resume limited natural resource extraction operations and crude oil exports to the US. The Biden Administration’s decision to ease some of the sanctions, implemented by the US in 2019, came after the resumption of talks last weekend between the Maduro government and political opposition groups in hopes this would resolve political turmoil seen in the country.
Chevron is preparing to ship the first crude oil cargo from Venezuela to the US by late December. However, we note ...
Spotlight on India
Nov. 18, 2022
India currently imports most of its crude oil and gas needs and the country exports refined oil products such as ultra-low sulfur diesel and jet fuel, notably to Europe and sometimes the US Atlantic Coast among more “typical” destinations such as Southeast Asia and East/South Africa. This year, India has shown a strong appetite for discounted Russian crude, and future purchases of Russian crudes by Indian refiners will likely depend on how the EU ban shapes up for seaborne trade and whether these imports will still make economic sense given high freight rates and the resulting market structure.
India ...
Positive Signs for the MR Segment
Nov. 14, 2022
We continue to see strong prospects for the MR market entering 2023. A recovery in global oil demand following the pandemic paired with new refining capacity coming online have created positive sentiment for the MR tanker sector. We have witnessed an increase in ton mile demand as a result of the Russian-Ukraine conflict, a trend we expect to persist in 2023. A low expected delivery schedule in 2023 and 2024 will likely result in these vessels remaining in high demand. These versatile tankers continue to operate in an increasing number of regions in the world, capturing about 45% of the ...
Full Russian Crude Embargo Approaching
Oct. 28, 2022
As the EU embargo on imports of Russian crude approaches on December 5th of this year, we wanted to revisit the topic. EU nations are mandated to stop buying waterborne Russian crude oil as of December 5th and refined oil products beginning February 5th of next year. Russia has historically exported approximately 4.5 – 5.0 million b/d of crude oil and about 3.0 million b/d of refined oil products, accounting for approximately 40% of their total export revenue.
As a result of the December 5th sanctions, we project a major contraction of VLCC cargoes ...
